Efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Papua New Guinea.

Background: In 2009, the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Department of Health adopted artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ) as the first- and second-line treatments for uncomplicated malaria, respectively. This study was conducted to assess the efficacy of both drugs following adoption of the new policy.

Methods: Between June 2012 and September 2014, a therapeutic efficacy study was conducted in East Sepik and Milne Bay Provinces of PNG in accordance with the standard World Health Organization (WHO) protocol for surveillance of anti-malarial drug efficacy.

Significant geographical differences in prevalence of mutations associated with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax drug resistance in two regions from Papua New Guinea.

Background: Drug resistance remains a major obstacle to malaria treatment and control. It can arise and spread rapidly, and vary substantially even at sub-national level. National malaria programmes require cost-effective and timely ways of characterizing drug-resistance at multiple sites within their countries.

Quantifying the evolution and impact of antimalarial drug resistance: drug use, spread of resistance, and drug failure over a 12-year period in Papua New Guinea.

BACKGROUND. Antimalarial use is a key factor driving drug resistance and reduced treatment effectiveness in Plasmodium falciparum malaria, but there are few formal, quantitative analyses of this process. METHODS.

Three different Plasmodium species show similar patterns of clinical tolerance of malaria infection.

Background: In areas where malaria endemicity is high, many people harbour blood stage parasites without acute febrile illness, complicating the estimation of disease burden from infection data. For Plasmodium falciparum the density of parasitaemia that can be tolerated is low in the youngest children, but reaches a maximum in the age groups at highest risk of infection. There is little data on the age dependence of tolerance in other species of human malaria.

Plasmodium vivax and mixed infections are associated with severe malaria in children: a prospective cohort study from Papua New Guinea.

Background: Severe malaria (SM) is classically associated with Plasmodium falciparum infection. Little information is available on the contribution of P. vivax to severe disease.

Changing patterns of Plasmodium blood-stage infections in the Wosera region of Papua New Guinea monitored by light microscopy and high throughput PCR diagnosis.

In Papua New Guinea (PNG), complex patterns of malaria commonly include single and mixed infections of Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, and P.

Plasmodium falciparum: distribution of msp2 genotypes among symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals from the Wosera region of Papua New Guinea.

The merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) is a leading asexual-stage malaria vaccine candidate that has already proven to have an effect in phase I/IIb vaccine trials, where it was tested in combination with other antigens. Alleles of msp2 fall within two major allelic families, 3D7 and FC27. We analyzed the msp2 genotype in 306 asymptomatic and 63 symptomatic infections from the Wosera region of Papua New Guinea.

A recombinant blood-stage malaria vaccine reduces Plasmodium falciparum density and exerts selective pressure on parasite populations in a phase 1-2b trial in Papua New Guinea.

The malaria vaccine Combination B comprises recombinant Plasmodium falciparum ring-infected erythrocyte surface antigen and 2 merozoite surface proteins (MSP1 and MSP2) formulated in oil-based adjuvant. A phase 1-2b double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 120 children (5-9 years old) in Papua New Guinea demonstrated a 62% (95% confidence limits: 13%, 84%) reduction in parasite density in children not pretreated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Vaccinees had a lower prevalence of parasites carrying the MSP2-3D7 allelic form (corresponding to that in the vaccine) and a higher incidence of morbid episodes associated with FC27-type parasites.